Chuck vs the Reassignment
by TheKyrien
Summary: AU ending for 2x18. Sarah is being recalled to Washington because of the 49B and Agent Alex Forrest is poised to step into her place as Chuck's protector. But why is it that somethings just aren't adding up? And how does Sarah fit into the equation?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**: Just something random that popped into my head as I was watching episodes of Chuck as research for vs. The Butterfly Effect. More notes at the end.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Chuck. I also do not have a beta so all errors belong time.

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><p><strong>Burbank CIA substation, code-name designation: Castle<strong>

Chuck swallowed nervously as he prepared himself to defend his feelings for Sarah as well as to gain some form of recognition for their burgeoning relationship. Beckman continued to drone on as she debriefed the them but Chuck was startled from his thoughts when he heard Beckman address Sarah directly.

"Agent Walker, despite your heroism, you have directly disobeyed several orders..."

"Wait, General, um..." Chuck tried to interject.

"Mr. Bartowski, interrupt me again and I will personally see that you will be carted off to an underground facility before the day is over, are we clear?" The baleful glare that Beckman was giving Chuck caused him to falter for a second.

"As I was saying, Agent Walker, you have disobeyed several orders and pending a full internal review, you are suspended without pay. You will report to Langley at o-nine hundred hours tomorrow for you debriefing.

"Major Casey, escort Agent Walker off the premises and ensure that she is entrusted into the care of the NSA agents waiting for her in the Orange Orange. Agent Forrest and the asset are to remain while we discuss the status of their cover."

Chuck's mouth was hanging open as Sarah shot one last look of devestation as Casey grabbed hold of her arm and led her to the exit. Overcoming his shock, Chuck made to follow them when Forrest grabbed hold of his shoulders and slammed him into a seat, a small smirk firmly locked onto her face.

"Agent Forrest, you are to assume the role recently vacated by Agent Walker as the permanent handler of the asset. This includes assuming the cover role of an Orange Orange employee and establishing a romantic relationship with the asset for purpose of proximity surveillance."

Chuck grimaced at what Beckman had said, a foul taste entering his mouth. How could he even trust this woman to protect him when she displayed such an open and callous disregard for his safety? Opening his mouth to protest, his words died in his throat as Beckman glared at him again, silently conveying her previous threat of having him in a bunker before he could say Intersect.

"Mr. Bartowski, you are dismissed, Agent Forrest, I need to speak with you about your clearance level."

Getting up from his seat in a kind of stunned disbelieve, Chuck ambled towards the exit slowly before remembering that Sarah was leaving, heading back to Langley and the chances of him seeing her again were slim to none. Making a mad dash for the Orange Orange exit, he hoped to catch her before she left but his hopes were dashed when the door slid open and Casey walked through.

_Maybe I can catch her at the Maison 23_, he thought as he pushed past Casey, eliciting a disgruntled "Watch it!" from the man. Running as quickly as he could, he jumped into a Nerd Herder and took off towards Sarah's hotel. By the time he reached the green door numbered 832, one thing was clear, Sarah was already gone.

The door stood ajar as a hotel employee went over final checks of the suite before deeming it ready for its next occupant. As Chuck stared through the crack in the door, it looked almost as if no one had ever stayed in the room at all. All traces of Sarah was gone.

Slumping dejectedly against the wall across from the door to what was once Sarah's room, Chuck crossed his arms over his knees and buried his face in his arms, tears welling up in his eyes as he cursed himself for being too slow.

* * *

><p><strong>Echo Park, Franklin Street Apartments (Casa Bartowski)<strong>

Chuck lay awake, staring unseeingly at the ceiling as his thoughts whirred around in a mess. He wasn't too feeling too great for a number of reasons, not the least of which was missing Sarah terribly, knowing that he would likely never be able to see her face or hear her laugh again. He also had to contend with the fallout from the operation to steal Awesome's keycard. Ellie had caught him trying to surreptitiously replace it and a fight had broken out.

Despair and anger warred inside him as he thought about just how **unfair** it all was. It wasn't his fault that the damn greater good required sacrifices he wasn't prepared to make, he hadn't asked for this after all. Despite everything that he had to endure, the government just continued to heap insults upon his best efforts by denying him the one thing he really wanted.

Groaning as he his alarm clock went off, he reached over a hand and slammed it down on the alarm clock, shutting it off with an almighty thud. Chuck cursed as he pulled his hand back, pain ripping up his arm from the impact.

As he took a long hot shower to try and clear his thoughts, Chuck gave serious thought to going rogue.

_I wonder if Fulcrum treats their assets and agents the same way the CIA does... _he thought before shaking his head. No, Sarah had done far too much to help him for him to even consider joining Fulcrum. It would be insult to Sarah and, frankly, to himself. As horrible as the situation was, he had the ability to truly make a difference in the world.

While toweling his hair dry, Chuck wondered if Casey and Forrest, the name still left a foul taste in his mouth, would give him a few hours to himself without surveillance to sort his thoughts and emotions out. _Casey might be sympathetic of my lady feelings,_ Chuck thought before grimacing at what Forrest would say._ She'll just mock me and cite protocol_. Sighing to himself, Chuck resolved to make the best out of a (very) bad situation.

He ran straight into Ellie as he made his way into the enjoined kitchenette and immediately remembered the other problem that was plaguing him. An pair of awkward good mornings were exchanged before Ellie, Awesome and Chuck sat down for a brief breakfast.

The atmosphere at the breakfast table seemed to quickly spread to encompass the whole apartment as the stifling tension between the three occupants rose slowly towards critical mass. Just before it seemed as if the giant bubble was about to burst, Chuck quickly rose from his seat and deposited what had tasted like shredded wheat paste into the sink and mumbled a quick goodbye and beat a hasty retreat to the Nerd Herder he had driven when he had gone to the Maison 23.

Seeing that the Crown Vic was not in its customary parking space, Chuck figured that Casey was at Castle Forrest, probably reading her into the entire mission and bringing her up to date with whatever protocol was involved in being the handler of the human Intersect.

_She'd enjoy that, more protocol for her to hide behind_, Chuck sneered as he climbed into the Herder and started up the engine. Feeling a bit rebellious, he took the extremely long way to the Buy More, arriving almost an hour late. He was immediately accosted by Casey after punching in and slammed forcibly into a wall.

"Listen here, Moron," Casey barked. "You may not like the situation but deal with it. Do you honestly think throwing a tantrum and coming in late to work with no one watching over you is going to get you what you want? Man up!"

Indignation rose in Chuck's chest as he made for a scathing retort but was stopped when Casey slammed him into the wall again before walking off. The anger that had tapered off during his morning shower returned in full force as he stalked back the way he came and headed to The Cage instead of the Nerd Herd desk. Pulling apart computers always calmed him down.

* * *

><p>Two weeks after Sarah had left, Chuck's frustration and the situation at large was fast reaching a boiling point. Not only was Casey reverting to his old ways of dealing with the asset, a change Chuck attributed to the <em>charming<em> Agent Forrest but every mission they had been on had been a bust. Fulcrum was always one step ahead of them and Forrest wasted no time in piling the blame of Chuck.

Claiming that he was deliberately sabotaging their missions as some kind of retaliation for her perceived role in having Sarah reassigned, Forrest had seemed to have Casey well on the path of conversion to her way of thinking as well. Needless to say, Beckman had been less than pleased as the success rate of the team reaching an all time low.

Her constant ill-temper and snarky remarks were grating on Chuck's nerve but, beyond that, Casey had apparently been dressed down multiple times by the general and was taking all his frustrations out on the asset.

Another point of great contention in his life was Forrest's own very prominent role in it. Casey and Forrest had demanded that Chuck immediately insert Forrest into the role of the new girlfriend and had apparently discounted the fact that Chuck would rather have never seen her face ever again. His less than warm attitude towards the woman had already disenfranchised his coworkers of the nature of their relationship.

The highlight of the two weeks, however, was how upset Ellie had been when she had learned that Sarah had been dumped by Chuck, a fact she learned from her helpful neighbor, John Casey. To say that she was furious at Chuck had been an understatement but when she had gone to the Orange Orange one afternoon and seen the woman who was at the counter, she literally lost it.

Ellie had been snapping at everyone in the days following her discovery of the stripper that had set her relationship with her fiance off kilter. The fact that Forrest seemed to almost take some kind of perverse pleasure by pretending to be totally unaware of her actions the night of Awesome's bachelor party simply added fuel to the growing fire.

It also did not help that Chuck was forced to invite Forrest for dinner and introduce her as his girlfriend at the not very veiled threat made about shipping him off to the bunker and displacing Ellie and Devon as part of witness security. Ellie had simply dropped the bowl of salad when she saw the haridan walking through the door. When Forrest introduced herself as Chuck's girlfriend, Awesome's already wide eyes expanded even further as his mouth dropped open. Ellie's reaction, however, proved the most chilling. She simply turned around and walked straight to her room and slammed it shut.

Even now, Chuck was still at odds with Ellie and even Awesome had stopped speaking to him. He was completely miserable and angry all wrapped up in one lanky package and he found no outlet for all his feelings. Before Sarah had been replaced, she acted as his sounding board for all the frustrations that came part and parcel as being a high priority government asset but now, he found himself floundering.

As Chuck sat in the surveillance van, alternating between stewing and despairing, Casey and Forrest had gone to intercept a new weapon that Fulcrum was looking to acquire. All information that Chuck had flashed on during one of the intelligence packets that he was required look through. He had been there for a couple of hours now with nothing to occupy him but the thoughts on his current situation.

It was three hours later that an extremely pissed off John Casey ripped open the surveillance van's sliding door with a loud bang as it slammed against the suspension that held it in place. "What the hell happened out there? We were left sitting on our asses for hours and nothing happened!"

"Just more faulty intelligence, I'm not even sure why we bother wasting our time with the Intersect." Forrest drawled, sauntering up behind Casey. "He hasn't given us a shred of actionable intelligence for weeks now."

"Hey! It isn't my fault the mark didn't show," Chuck protested. "I was just reporting on HUMINT that the CIA and NSA forwarded to me for evaluation!"

"This is all on you Bartowski, Beckman's not going to be happy with another waste of our resources on shit intelligence coming from you." Casey growled out as he got into the driver's seat and started up the engine.

During the debriefing with Beckman, both Casey and Forrest had thrown him under the proverbial bus and pinned all blame for the waste of time and resources on his faulty intelligence.

"This is your last warning, Mr. Bartowski. The intelligence community is beginning to wonder why we waste millions of dollars maintaining this substation for a less than capable asset." Beckman warned. "If things don't pick up and soon, I'm pulling the plug on Project Intersect."

Without saying anything else, Beckman signed off and left the three unhappy members of Team Bartowski to deal with the aftermath.

Casey simply grunted and made his to the shooting range, deciding on expunging his anger through his favorite past time, shooting things. Once Casey was out of sight, the angry and frustrated scowl disappeared off Forrest's face and it morphed into one of supreme disinterest.

"Remember, we have a cover date tomorrow." She called out before making her way out of Castle.

Chuck just stood there with his fists balled up against his side. He could really do with something to hit right now and any of his two handlers would have made more than ample targets. Deciding that he would rather not return to the stifling atmosphere of home, Chuck opted for an aimless drive around town.

* * *

><p>A week later, a new mission had come in through the pipeline. Beckman was so utterly disgusted with the performance of the team that she didn't even bother briefing them anymore, leaving it to a simple missive to give them their target and objectives though she had somehow managed to add in a note about the consequences should the mission fail. The missive also relayed that there would be no assistance from local resources as she could no longer justify having a full tactical unit ready every time they went on a mission.<p>

Chuck was once again left in the van stewing in his thoughts as Casey and Forrest both went to get into position. The mission was purely surveillance only and Chuck's job was to provide on site support, informing the two agents should anything out of the ordinary occur along the rarely traveled warehouse district.

As had become the expected result of the past few week's worth of mission, there was absolutely nothing for Chuck to do as he sat there staring at the various screens that lined the interior of the truck. With nothing better to do, he simply mused about what life would have been like had Sarah never been reassigned, a line of thinking that was extremely dangerous, given his current situation.

He was pulled out of his musing when a single gunshot echoed through the deserted alleys formed by the many warehouses. Jolting straight up in his seat, Chuck tried contacting his handlers over the radio but received no reply. Wondering just what he could do in this situation, he was still trying to contact Casey and Forrest when the driver's seat door opened and Forrest jumped in.

"Where's Casey?" Chuck asked.

"He's occupied, we're getting you out of here."

"What? No, we can't leave Casey behind!"

"Shut up and listen to me. Casey's a professional and protocol during these kinds of situation is to relocate the asset until the danger has passed so that's exactly what I'm doing."

"No way, I may not like you or Casey right now but I'm not leaving till I find out what happened and we **all** get out of he..."

Slapping a hand to his neck, Chuck turned and stared at Forrest as she smirked at him. Pulling out the tranq dart, he stared at the agent as his vision began to blur. Just before he passed out entirely, he muttered "Oh boy."

* * *

><p><strong>Washington D.C. - A month later.<strong>

News had spread quickly about Major John Casey, wounded during the discharge of his duty. He had been awarded the Intelligence Star by the CIA due to his being wounded in a joint CIA/NSA operation that had irreparably changed his life. He had just recently been discharged from a military medical facility after being served his discharge papers, both from the Marines and from the NSA. After all, what use did they have for a burn out who would never again be able to walk.

Sarah had, of course, heard about Casey and and the trickle of rumors that were coming from the higher-ups about Project Intersect. She had tried everything she could, herself, to get some information but had been rebuffed at every turn. After she had been reassigned and reprimanded by Internal Affairs for her conduct as a team member of Project Intersect, she had carefully reviewed her contract with the CIA and realized that her ten-year tenure was coming to an end. She had the choice for either a renewal or a discharge.

Given the way she had ended, or did not end, things with Chuck and her growing fatigue at hurting the people she cared about because of the greater good, Sarah was determined not to renew her contract. She had, in fact, just handed in her letter of resignation to the office of the new deputy director of operations. The last two months without Chuck had been an eye-opener and she had come to realize that the lovable nerd had forever changed her and how she lived. She was different without Chuck and she didn't like it.

Dismissing her concerns about the Chuck and the project, she figured that she could find out everything she needed to know when she visited Casey.

What she saw when she walked into the temporary housing he was in, however, was not the man she knew as Major John Casey, USMC. He was just a shell of the man he once was. Nearly a month of bed rest had lain waste to his muscular physique and his skin hung loosely off his bones. Combined with the haggard look that now covered his face and the fact that he was still sitting in a wheel chair, he looked like shit. Biting back a curse, she wondered just what on earth had happened to the man.

"Hey Casey," she said, pulling his attention away from the window that he was staring out of.

"Walker." he grunted.

"How are you doing?"

Casey turned his head back to stare out the window and Sarah was left wringing her hands, wondering just how to handle the situation.

"It was Forrest."

"What?"

"She betrayed us. Shot me in the back, severed my spine. Doctors did everything they could but I'm stuck in this piece of shit for the rest of my life."

Sarah was shocked, did Casey really say what she thought he had said? Surely it was her mind playing tricks on her because if Forrest had betrayed Casey that meant...

"What about Chuck?" she blurted out, feeling a slow rise of panic as the silence dragged on.

"She was Fulcrum." Casey finally replied after a minute. "They have him now."

Sarah's eyes widened as a tear made its slow track down her face. If Fulcrum had Chuck, they would do everything in their power to keep him hidden from the world.

The door opening behind her shook her out of her thoughts as she turned to see Beckman framed against the sunlight that filtered in through the door. Before anyone could react, Sarah launched herself at the diminutive woman grabbing Beckman by the collar of her uniform and hauled her up.

"WHAT DID YOU DO? HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN TO HIM!" Sarah screamed into the face of the general. The silence following the outcry was deafening as Beckman shifted her eyes away from Sarah. Not two seconds later, she felt a pair of strong arms grab hold of her and haul her away from the general, prying her fingers off of Beckman's jacket.

Turning her head in alarm, she saw two burly men dressed in black suits with ear-wigs stuck in their ears, typical g-man. As they carted the soon to be former CIA agent out of the room, Beckman finally spoke.

"She diagnosed your feelings as a liability but... I suppose it was also an asset to the... well, asset. It's unfortunate that is has come to this but you're not going to be part of this world much longer. I hope not to see you too soon, Ms. Walker."

And as the door she was led out of began to close, Sarah wondered to herself if anything would ever be the same again.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I usually absolutely hate angst so I'm sorry about the way this ended. _It was meant to be a one-shot and I don't see myself continuing this any further._

**Update: **I have decided to continue this story, at least until things wrap up!

This plot came to me as I rewatched episode 02x18. We were always told that the Intersect and, by proxy, Chuck was the most important asset the government had. That made me wonder, why then was Alex Forrest so unscrupulous in her handling of Chuck? I'm pretty sure the risking of blowing up the top intelligence asset with nitroglycerine is **not** protocol. This is my personal take on why she acted the way she did.

I apologise if it isn't very well written, it was just something I had to get out. Please let me know what you thought of it.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **I'd just like to thank **supesfan18, uplink2, Aerox, tw200 **and **Doc in Oz** for the encouragement to continue this. This one-shot will be transforming into a short story, at the least, that I hope will sate everyone's desire for more and answer a few questions that were left lingering including just how far Sarah will go for Chuck. As usual, no one else but me looking at this before it goes up so all errors are mine.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Chuck.

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><p><strong>Washington D.C. - Sarah's Apartment.<strong>

Sarah Walker had widely been known in what she was now calling her Before Chuck days as The Enforcer, a wild card CIA agent who rarely stuck to the rules and always seemed to complete a mission no matter what the odds and never, ever let her emotions color her actions or let them affect hern. So it would have come as a surprise to many that Sarah Walker was about to undertake the most important mission she ever had and she was raging mad inside.

The government that had tasked itself to protect Chuck in _her_ placed had failed, spectacularly, and because of that failure, one hero lay despondent after being sidelined by the same people who had decided that she, Sarah Walker was a liability. Because of that choice, the another hero was now missing and the incompetents that comprised the CIA's top analysts had no idea where he was except that the person who had been brought in to _replace_ the liability had abducted him, most assuredly for nefarious purposes.

So yes, Sarah Walker was raging mad as she activated the protocol she and Bryce had dubbed Omaha. With him under deep cover in Fulcrum, it was the only way she know to contact him and any information he might have about the intersect that Fulcrum was working on would prove invaluable. The government had shown how completely useless they were at handling the situation and as she counted backwards to when she had first heard the first stirrings about Casey and the Intersect, she realized with no small amount of horror that Chuck had been gone for at least three weeks.

She sorely wished she could speak to Casey more, extract whatever shred of information he had about Forrest and Chuck.

_I swear, if that bitch has so much as messed up his hair, I'm going to rip her limb from limb from limb_, she thought viciously. _And if Beckman thinks she can stop me, she's got another thing coming._

Sarah briefly entertained the thought that Beckman was Fulcrum herself but dismissed the notion. As impotent as the CIA and NSA analysts seemed to be when it came to the Intersect, they were probably the best at digging up the past so she doubted that Beckman could have risen to such a high position within the intelligence community if she really did have ties to the renegade faction.

Growling in anxiety and impatience as she paced the length of the room, Sarah's eyes kept flitting over to her phone sitting on the bed, almost willing it to beep or ring. Chuck was far too important to her to go half-assed into the mission so proper information and intelligence was absolutely necessary.

Her mind shifted gear and her thoughts detached from Chuck for a moment and refocused on his family. What about Ellie, what had happened to her? If Fulcrum knew that Chuck was the Intersect, and there was no denying this now, then she and Awesome were in danger. Chuck's loyalty to his family was legendary and any one of them could easily be used as leverage to help convince Chuck to cooperate.

Deciding to alter her current plan of hunting down every single Fulcrum agent that she could and extracting any and all information about Chuck from them, she quickly booked a flight to Los Angeles that would be leaving early in the evening, determined to check up on Chuck's family in his stead. This unfortunately meant she wouldn't be able to break into Casey's residence to confront him about everything that had happened but she considered it an acceptable loss.

* * *

><p><strong>Los Angeles, California – Bob Hope Airport<strong>

Forcing herself to not panick, Sarah reasoned that there were any amount of reasons as to why she couldn't reach Ellie or Awesome. Figuring that the NSA and CIA had already flagged her arrival in Los Angeles as a high security matter, she realized belatedly that maybe coming straight to LA with such a wide paper trail wasn't the best of ideas.

_Nothing for it now, _Sarah thought. _I just need to make sure Chuck's family is safe, it's not like visiting friends is against the law._

Looking at the multitude of signs that hung from the ceiling in jarring neon colors, Sarah slowly made her way towards the rental counter. The overly bubbly clerk behind the counter was, according to the clerk, more than happy to help Sarah finalize the rental she had booked before flying out of D.C. But what she had not been expecting was the medium sized metallic briefcase the clerk pulled out from under the counter.

"Someone dropped this off for you a few hours ago," the clerk explained.

Thanking the clerk for all her help and insisting that she could find her way to the rental by herself, Sarah made a beeline for the restroom where, after a quick sweep, she promptly appropriated the handicap stall. Placing the briefcase on top of the seat, she stepped back and eyed the case critically, looking for any signs of a trap. She hadn't called in her trip and while she knew that NSA and CIA analysts had already picked up her departure, she doubted anyone would go to any lengths to terminate a sole agent. After all, she would be out of a job in little under a month.

Just as she was about to decide to simply leave the briefcase behind, her phone suddenly vibrated in her pocket. Fishing it out quickly in case it was Bryce, Sarah frowned when she noticed that the caller ID failed to even say if it could identify the number.

"Hello?" Sarah answered warily.

"Agent Walker," an electronically distorted voice stated.

"Yes?"

"My name is Orion."

Sarah's thoughts came to a screeching stop at the name. Orion was dead, she had seen the helicopter that he was in explode in the night sky with her own two eyes. No, this had to be a trick, maybe Fulcrum was trying to grab her for more leverage on Chuck. Hanging up the phone quickly, Sarah ripped the back of it and removed the battery. She'd dispose of it later.

Sliding the stall's lock open, she paused once again as she stared at the briefcase. Deciding after a moment of contemplation, she re-entered the stall and pushed the lock back into place. She was being ridiculous, even if it **was** a Fulcrum trap, she was the best damn agent in the CIA. Sarah was walking into this eyes wide open and a slip up on the enemy's side could \most definitely prove beneficial in her quest to rescue Chuck.

Retrieving the parts of her phone from her bag, she reinserted the battery and turned it back on. The twenty or so seconds she waited for the phone to finish starting up, including the ridiculous flashing logo on the screen annoyed her to no end. _Strange_, she thought. _I've never noticed it before_, but ever since she had found out that Chuck was missing, her emotions and actions had been off kilter.

The moment the connection bars on the screen spike upwards to confirm a connection, her phone began to vibrate again, the caller ID once more failing to identify the caller. Tentatively sliding her finger across the screen to answer the call, Sarah exhaled slowly to calm herself.

"Please do not hang up," the electronically distorted voice said. "I promise you that I am not your enemy."

"Prove it."

"If you'll but open the briefcase I sent you, we'll be able to speak with greater ease." and before Sarah could answer, there was a click on the other end and the line went dead.

Bracing herself, Sarah slowly unlatched the briefcase that was still sitting on the lid of the toilet basin and quickly pushed it up while ducking out of the cubicle. Waiting for a second, she peered around the edge of the stall's frame and glanced inside. One look was all she needed to be convinced that the man who had contacted her was, indeed, Orion.

Sitting in the foam padded casing was a near exact duplicate of the laptop Chuck had received from Orion just prior to the arrival of Forest. She gently hefted the laptop out of the case, the metal cool against her fingers, and she was surprised at just how light it was. The ruggedized laptops she was used to were already light but this, this felt like it weighed almost nothing. Flipping the screen open, Sarah saw the laptop immediately come to life.

A couple of seconds as the machine started to light up from the internal hardware with the screen scrolling rapidly through lines of words and numbers that made absolutely no sense to her, the screen went blank before the message _Stand Still_ appeared on it. Wondering just what was going to happen next, she was surprised by a laser grid that shot out from what she had previously assumed was the web camera and projected itself onto her.

Standing as still as she could despite having no clue what was happening, the screen remained static for a few seconds before it once again turned completely black. A message saying that the scan had successfully identified her as Sarah Walker filled her with understanding, a full body biometric scan. Sarah was officially impressed because even though she knew next to nothing about computers and hardware and electronics, it was obvious that the machine in front of her was something far out of the league of anything else she had ever used.

As Sarah watched, the screen began filling a whole bunch of letters and numbers that eventually formed what looked like the face of a man wearing sunglasses.

"Hello Agent Walker, it is good to finally speak you face to face."

"Except that's not your real face, is it?" Sarah shot back.

"Touche but I assure you, this is for the best."

"I assume this is about Chuck."

"Yes, it is. It has come to my attention that while the US intelligence community is search for him, their priority is the Intersect and not Chuck. There are very few people I can trust to put the interest of the person ahead of the Intersect. What I want to know is, are you one of those people?"

"If you're contacting me, then you already know what Chuck means to me."

The distorted image of Orion smiled at that. He was already well aware that Sarah Walker had submitted the required paperwork for her severance from the CIA. What she didn't know was that the CIA had no intention of letting her leave. The most likely scenario looked to be a burn notice, if she did not rescind her resignation. _Would that change her mind,_ Orion wondered.

"Maybe I do, but do _you_ know what he means to you? Does he?"

"I..." Sarah faltered. She knew that the two months away from Chuck had been amongst the most difficult she had ever endured. The fact that her thoughts would constantly flit towards Chuck was not something new, nor were the emotions she had tried for almost two years to squash.

"You'll let me know your answer when you're sure." Orion stated. "But for now, there are other things that must be done. Chuck's family is still in Burbank but they're in danger, both from the CIA and from Fulcrum.

Inside the case is a key, taped to the left side of the laptop. It opens locker 19 at the Downtown Burbank Metro Link station bike lockers. Inside, you'll find a full set of ruggedized cellphones. Distribute them as you see fit to whoever will be helping you in your endeavor.

Also inside is a set of pristine identities, completely untraceable. You know what to do with those. Good luck Sarah, for all our sakes."

* * *

><p><strong>Downtown Burbank – Metro Link Station<strong>

Sarah decided to huff it to the station itself after parking her car at a nearby motel and checking in. It was best to draw as little attention to herself as possible, especially given the sensitive nature of her current mission and the fact that, strictly speaking, it was a rogue operation.

No one would ever accuse Sarah of being stupid and she fully understood the implications of the mission she had undertaken at her own behest. If Chuck... When, she corrected herself, was rescued, he would be shut in an underground facility till the end of time and would never, ever have the chance to see the light of day again. When that happened, the CIA would need something to leverage against Chuck since he was, essentially, an autonomous asset. At the very top of the list was his family.

Sarah was absolutely certain that Chuck would do whatever it took to keep Ellie safe and if that meant sacrificing his own freedom, he would do it in a heartbeat. Well, she'd be damned if she was going to let that happen without a fight.

_Save Chuck's family then save Chuck_. Sarah kept repeating in her head, the mantra she would use to get her through the tough times that were sure to come.

Locating the locker that Orion had mentioned in one of her pass through of the station, she quickly circled back around, making sure there was no one watching her. When she was as certain as she could be that there wasn't any surveillance on her at the moment, she quickly unlocked the locker and emptied the contents into the small duffel bag she had brought along.

_Next stop, Franklin Street._

* * *

><p><strong>Franklin Street, Echo Park, California.<strong>

After the brief detour back to her motel, Sarah made her way to Chuck's apartment. Driving at a moderate speed past the front entrance, Sarah spied an unmarked car with dark tinted windows. She could very barely make out the outline of a man in the drivers seat, though she couldn't see enough to make out what he looked like or what he was doing.

Choosing to drive by as nonchalantly as possible, Sarah parked her rental a few blocks down the road before making her way stealthily back. Her first order of business was finding out exactly how many people were watching the apartment complex.

A quick case of the surrounding area still took close to two hours thanks to how careful she had been but it was well worth it. She had identified at least three vehicles stationed at various key locations where they would inconspicuous enough to avoid detection and still be able to watch the coming and going of the apartments with relative ease.

While sneaking to and fro, Sarah also found a slight hitch in both her and Orion's plan. If the CIA, NSA and Fulcrum were watching the place, her being there could tip her hand before she was ready. Thinking hard and fast, made her way back to her car where she used one of the new phones she had acquired to contact Orion.

Orion was obviously waiting for her call because he, at least she thought it was a he, answered before the first ring had ended. Sarah quickly explained the situation to him.

"Unfortunate but no unexpected. This does make getting them to safety much more difficult, however."

"If they're just watching the place, Ellie is in no immediate danger."

"I suppose you're right. You should know, however, that the NSA has flagged your car for surveillance."

"I'm going to need your help in arranging a mode of transportation that'll at least buy me some time to get them on the move."

"That can be done but how are you going to contact them, there're going to be agents watching the sister like a hawk. There's no one else you can turn to."

Frowning at his words, Sarah pondered the situation. It was true, there would be someone watching Ellie at all times and anyone at the Buy More was out of the question, the CIA still had a substation there and would undoubtedly be watching the store. Who then... Smiling for what felt like the first time in forever, Sarah thought about the one person who was always being dismissed and overlooked in all things spy related.

"No," she replied, shaking her head even though she knew Orion could not see her. "There is another."

_To be continued..._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I'm actually getting a ton of ideas for this story, even as I type this sort of transitional chapter. Please let me know if you spot any errors and let me know what you think, thanks.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **I apologise if anyone was expecting another chapter of Butterfly Effect first but I'm having a bit of a hard time writing the latest chapter. I know what I want to say, I'm just not sure how to say it. The fact that I had this little nugget stuck in my head was not helping matters so I decided to get this done first. Haven't had a second pair of eyes check this out so please excuse any mistakes.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Chuck.

* * *

><p>"Has Walker approached the house?"<p>

"We have had no visual confirmation of Agent Walker within the vicinity other than a brief drive by at about o-one-hundred hours. According to the agents watching her motel, she returned at about o-four-hundred hours."

"So there are three hours of absence unaccounted for? Why was no one tailing her?"

"With all due respect, ma'am, Agent Walker is just that, a trained agent and one of the best. She would've spotted a tail a mile away."

"A good point."

"Thank you ma'am."

"We did manage to hack into the GPS lo-jack on her rental. From what we can see, Agent Walker parked a few blocks away and the car remained stationary for a couple of hours."

"So we can assume that she partook in a little recon."

"Indeed. Based on that fact, we have determined the most likely scenarios in which she attempts to make contact with the family and have outlined a few contingencies."

"Proceed as planned then. We need Agent Walker to draw out anyone else that is watching her or the sister, anyone else is considered acceptable collateral damage. I don't need to tell you what will happen should this mission fail."

"Yes, I understand."

"Very well, you have your orders."

Tossing the phone into the glove compartment, the agent turned back to looking out the window as a scowl crossed his face. He hated those damn pencil pushers who sat behind their desks and assumed they knew everything.

"What's Beckman want?" his partner said from the driver's seat.

"Same thing as always, sitrep and reminding us about what will happen if we fail."

"Damn hag."

"You got that right."

* * *

><p>After hanging up on Orion, Sarah began making plans on how to approach the situation. The person she needed to speak to would not be easy to approach, he'd almost certainly always be under watch but he was absolutely essential to her plan.<p>

_First things first,_ Sarah thought._ I need to get some form of transport that doesn't have a damn GPS pinpointing my every move_.

Starting up her engine, Sarah took a long drive through the foothills as she fleshed out her plan to contact Ellie. Orion was right, Ellie wasn't safe where she was, not with the NSA/CIA and Fulcrum all after the same thing. There would be no choice but to get her to safety on her own, the problem being how Sarah could get Ellie away from the large number of agents that were most assuredly watching her.

Deciding that she did, in fact, have no choice but to go with the route she had come up with while talking to Orion, Sarah started her work on planning out a meet.

As she finally arrived back at her hotel, Sarah spotted the dark van parked about a block away from her motel. Snorting to herself, she wondered if the NSA was really that inept. The truck was a near exact replica of the one she and Chuck had worked out of, so many times before.

As she walked slowly up the stairs to her room, Sarah wondered if someone had followed her from the motel to Echo Park but nearly immediately dismissed the idea. The lo-jack was enough for her to be tracked, for now, and she was an expert in spotting and shaking tails. Even if it had not occurred to her before now, there was no way she wouldn't have noticed a tail.

Unlocking the door, Sarah walked into her motel room and looked around. She was still mostly packed, her personal laptop sitting on top of the small table that stood against one side of the room. She needed information but using an unsecured laptop and connection was just inviting the people watching her to spy on her activities. She continued pondering the latest hurdle before her eyes landed on the metal briefcase leaning against the bed.

Slapping herself on the forehead at her complete lack of foresight, she began counting down the amount of hours she had been awake. The flight from DC yielded no rest because she had been too on edge about the whole situation and ever since she had received contact from Orion, Sarah had been working on almost auto pilot and adrenaline. She couldn't even remember the last time she ate.

Figuring that she'd be of no use to Ellie or Chuck if she was caught dead on her feet, Sarah stripped down to her underwear and a loose fitting t-shirt, one of Chuck's that she must have filched on a stay over, she realized. She didn't even remember packing this though, she reasoned, she had barely unpacked since leaving Burbank. Slipping into bed after making sure to set the alarm to wake her in a few hours, Sarah burrowed under the sheets and tried to still her mind sufficiently so that she could rest.

In the quiet moments just before Sarah fell asleep, her thoughts began to race over everything that had happened in the last two months, from the moment that she had been ripped away from Chuck. A deep ache shot through her heart as she realized she had never gotten to tell Chuck how she really felt. While Chuck had never put his feelings into words, his actions spoke loud and clear but she was guilty of constantly using the job as an excuse to avoid the truth, always rejecting and hurting Chuck. The only problem was that Sarah Walker felt exactly the same way as Chuck did but she had been too cowardly to tell him before he was taken.

_I'll **fix** this, _Sarah thought, swiping at the sudden tears gathering at the corner of her eyes. Bringing the short sleeve of the t-shirt she wore up to dab at her eyes, Sarah's senses were suddenly filled with the scent of Chuck. The familiarity of the scent calmed her down and she pulled the collar over her nose and took a deep breath. _**I **will fix this._

* * *

><p>Sarah woke to the bustle of cars and the early afternoon sun streaming in through the gap in the curtains. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she quickly glanced at the alarm clock and noticed that she had woken up a bit earlier than expected.<p>

_No time like the present_, Sarah thought as she jumped out of bed and headed to the bathroom to wash up. Was she once done getting ready for the day, her first order of business was to not arouse the suspicion of anyone watching her by sticking to a very obvious schedule.

Picking up her normal phone while shifting the curtains aside a bit, she saw the same van parked down the street and smiled. Quickly sifting through her contacts till she found Ellie, she thought through the prepared speech one more time before hitting dial.

"Hello?"

"Hi Ellie, it's Sarah."

"Sarah? Oh my god, Sarah!"

"I'm calling about Chuck."

"Wait, what about Chuck? Did something happen to him?"

_Curious,_ Sarah thought, _Does Ellie not know yet?_ "No, nothing, just wanted to talk to you about him. Are you busy later?"

"I'm pulling a double shift at the hospital later and won't be done till tomorrow. Can we meet tomorrow night?"

"Sure, I'll text you the time and place."

"Great! I'm really looking forward to seeing you again. I missed having you around so much!"

"I missed you too, Ellie. I'll see you tomorrow."

After hanging up, Sarah decided that she'd best act as normal as possible by heading out for some supplies, namely food and coffee.

She returned to her room about twenty minutes later and immediately started up her laptop to search for a good place to meet with Ellie. It took awhile but she finally found some place that met all the criteria she had for the meet up. While using her normal laptop to do some other searches, Sarah pulled out the Orion laptop and booted it up. Orion had assured Sarah that the laptop had an anonymous network access card that she could use without being detected so while she continued to randomly change pages on her laptop to keep the surveillance on her busy, Sarah used the Orion laptop for the real work.

It took a bit of getting used to, initially, but Sarah eventually got a hang of using the proprietary hacking tools the laptop contained and managed to find the information she needed. She could not afford to go in blind and armed with the shift schedule, she was certain that she would be able to contact the the person who could help her without raising any suspicions. Her biggest weapon was the element of surprise and, thanks to Orion, it looked like she would be able to continue maintaining it.

* * *

><p>Sarah left for the Buy More at around mid afternoon just to scope the place out. Continuing to follow protocol when she was casing a location, Sarah parked her rental a few blocks away and made the rest of the journey on foot.<p>

She was too well known inside to store to ever hope of getting in without being seen and the fact that CIA substation was still fully operational, Sarah had little doubts that she had already been made by dozens of hidden security cameras across mall. Using her inside knowledge of where some, if not all, of the cameras were positioned, she managed to make her way into a blind spot where she disappeared from view.

Crouching low in a hidden position along the far wall of Large Mart, Sarah watched in amusement as a dozen men trying to appear inconspicuous appeared out of an alley. She almost snorted in laughter at the rookie mistake these agents were making but considered it her good fortune that she was deemed a sufficient threat that so many men would be out and about looking for her.

Slowly sneaking along the wall that hid her from a multitude of cameras, Sarah made her way to the local bus stop to wait for a bus to take her down to Westside Medical Center. She had timed it perfectly and the bus arrived within minutes of her arrival at the bus stop. Taking a seat at the back of the bus, she pulled out a baseball cap from her coat pocket and slipped it onto her head, essentially masking some of her features.

As the bus pulled away from the stop, she watched the small squad of agents fanning out and combing the mall for her.

* * *

><p>"What do you mean you lost her?"<p>

"Erm... We can't find her?"

"I'm aware of that Agent Hawkins but you are_ all_ trained CIA agents! How **could** you lose her?"

"General, Agent Walker has intimate knowledge of the set up here at Castle. She knows where all the cameras are, where all the blind spots are. It was easy of her to exploit the system." Agent Hawkins replied, something akin to awe in his voice. He, like everyone else, had heard of the famous Agent Walker but seeing her in action had been a whole other thing. She was amazing, using their own system against them.

"Maybe I should reassign you to Siberia, Hawkins, where you can suitably spend your time appreciating Agent Walker's ability to elude surveillance."

"That is not necessary ma'am," Hawkins choked out quickly. "We have agents canvassing the area, we'll find her soon enough."

* * *

><p>Sarah was thankful that the trip to Westside only took about forty minutes, she couldn't afford to go off grid for more than a few of hours. She had mentally calculated the amount of area that the agents would have to cover while maintaining at least some level of effort to hide their search from the public before she had initiated this portion of the plan. She figured she had about a couple of hours before all possibilities were exhausted and they figured out that she was nowhere near the mall.<p>

After she got off the bus, Sarah surreptitiously cased the outer perimeter of the hospital and was satisfied that there was no surveillance on the area. Ellie wasn't due to arrive for another two hours but Sarah knew that she always arrived at least a half hour early to prepare for her shift. Making her way to the office building across from the hospital, Sarah opted to take the stairs rather than the elevator to the top where she expertly picked the lock to the roof.

Once she was on the roof, Sarah looked for the best vantage point to watch the entrance to the hospital's underground garage and settled herself in for surveillance. She pulled out the pair of binoculars she had brought along and began watching the roads.

About eighty minutes later, Sarah spotted a familiar Toyota Sienna driving down the street. Bringing her binoculars to her eyes, Sarah could barely make out the outline of a woman. Shifting the line of sight downwards, Sarah kept watching till she could make out the license plate. _Yup, that's Ellie._ Sarah thought with a small amount of satisfaction, she'd have plenty of time to make it back to the Buy More mall.

As Sarah had expected, a couple of vehicles were following Ellie, a big black SUV with dark tinted windows and a a surveillance van. _Seriously, do these guys even know how obvious they are being?_ Sarah thought with some annoyance.

Sarah watched as Ellie stopped briefly at the exit to allow a Prius pulling out of the garage to pass before making her way in. The SUV followed Ellie into the parking garage while the van parked further down the street. Satisfied with the fruits of her surveillance, Sarah used her secured phone to call for a cab, instructing the driver to wait on the blind side of the office building.

Just over two hours since she had slipped away from the mall, Sarah made her way back to a different blind spot as quickly as she could while simultaneously avoiding as many agents as she could. It took awhile but she eventually made it. Waiting for her chance, Sarah watched the multitude of agents swarming the parking area. _They must've brought in reinforcements,_ she thought.

When she was certain that no one was paying any attention to the corner she was in, Sarah casually slipped back into view of the security cameras and strolled across the lot and back to her car. She could literally pinpoint the exact time the agents received word that they had her back in surveillance because almost every single one of them raised a finger to their ear and turned in her direction. Frowning at how much time she was wasting leading all these agents on a merry chase, Sarah soothed her frayed nerves with the fact that it had been a very productive day.

_This time tomorrow, Chuck's family will be safe and there'll be nothing stopping me from going after Fulcrum_, she told herself.

Picking up her pace as she approached the Buy More, Sarah strode in quickly and once again utilized her knowledge of camera positions and the general lay out of the store to make her way undetected and undeterred to the break room. Finding the locker that she was looking for, Sarah slide an enveloped through the slats before exiting through the docking area.

Moving quickly to avoid being detained by the on-site agents, Sarah made her way back to her car and drove back to her motel, stopping to pick up food for dinner on the way. Once she had reached the family restaurant, Sarah made her order before moving to the restroom to contact Orion. A brief whispered conversation where she laid out her plans to him. Orion expressed admiration at how fast she was moving and promised her that she would have transport ready at a designated extraction point that he would text to her at a later time. Once she was satisfied, Sarah headed back out to the dining area where she tried her best to enjoy dinner.

She frowned as she pulled out of the parking lot after dinner and noticed a black SUV openly tailing her. She supposed the NSA and CIA didn't appreciate me pulling a disappearing act on them twice in the same day.

Sarah decided to stay in for the night and randomly surfed through channels on the provided television in her room, using the mindless chatter as a way to calm her nerves. She had an important mission the next day and success depended on how focused and prepared she was. Preparations were made to the best of her efforts so all she could do now was clear her head and steel her nerves.

_Just like any other mission, Walker._ She thought.

Sarah fell asleep that night the same way she had before, wrapped securely in Chuck's t-shirt, his scent enveloping her and dreaming of what she would do once she finally had Chuck back with her.

* * *

><p>Due to the mission she planned to undertake, Sarah woke early and sifted through the items she had brought with her to LA. Many of them would need to be left behind. Sifting through her luggage, Sarah packed a couple of changes of clothing and retrieved a photo of Chuck and her from a happier time. She gently ran her finger over Chuck's beaming face and once again felt her eyes fill with tears. Swiping at them angrily, she carefully slipped the photo into the duffel she had used to store the Orion phones. Adding to the photo and her change of clothes, she slipped in the t-shirt she had filched for Chuck and the Orion laptop.<p>

Hiding the duffel underneath the pillows, Sarah walked out of the room and placed a do not disturb sign before she made her way back to the small cafe she had picked up lunch from the previous day. The bakery that was next to it would provide breakfast for the day and Sarah had no idea when she would next have a chance to eat.

Once back in the room with her food, Sarah turned the TV back on and left it on a twenty-four hour news network channel before picking up the bag of pastries she had picked and began munching her way through them. Once she was done, she downed a quick cup of coffee before proceeding to peer out the tiny crack in her window's curtains to establish where the people watching her were currently located.

Once she had mentally recorded each of their positions, Sarah made her way to the bathroom and, as quietly as she could, eased open the window and pulled through it. It had taken some awkward manoeuvrings and coupled with the fact that she was trying to be as quiet as possible, it took far longer than she hoped to finally find herself balancing against the window sill of the bathroom. Making a small hop to the nearby piping, Sarah lowered herself till she was within jumping distance of the low wall that separated the motel from a set of apartments before nimbly hopping on to the wall.

From there, it was a simple matter of walking out to the street and hailing down a cab. According to her research, he would be getting off work soon and she needed to intercept him before he made it all the way home.

Sarah had to take special care to not show up on any security cameras this time, as she slowly and methodically made her way to a place where she could keep watch on the exit. If she was picked up by any cameras this time, it would prove disastrous to her plan. She arrived just in time to see him leaving with a few colleagues where appeared to be, from what she could hear about the animated conversation, talking about what seemed like every inane thing under the sun.

"C'mon," she hissed. "Get moving."

It took another good ten minutes before he finally broke off from the group and began making his way across the parking area. Once Sarah was absolutely certain that there was no one around to see her, she quickly slipped behind the man and swept his feet out from underneath him. Pouncing onto his back and using her knees to pin his arms behind him, Sarah held a hand to his mouth to muffle his cries of surprise and protests.

"Shh," She whispered into his ear. "Devon, don't freak out."

_To be continued._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So, this bit of plot popped into my head and I couldn't even begin to properly work on Butterfly Effect till I had this fleshed out. I wonder how many of you saw this coming because I know a few people hypothesized that Morgan would be the go-to man.

I apologise if it isn't great, I'm working on little to no energy and I kind of broke my toe as well so I'm a bit distracted.

As always, if you see any mistakes or errors or just have a general thought, please let me know.

Cheers.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **This took a lot longer than I had hoped but I think it says everything I wanted to do in this chapter. Please let me know what you think.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Chuck.

* * *

><p><strong>One month ago – Location unknown.<strong>

Chuck groaned loudly as his mind slowly returned to consciousness. He tried to reach a hand up to rub at his temples, hoping to relieve the onset of a splitting headache when he found that he couldn't move his hands. His eyes popped open as he suddenly remember getting tranq'd by Forrest. Taking a quick look around, Chuck found himself restrained with his arms and leg firmly strapped to a metal chair in the middle of a large, overly lit, circular room.

He strained against his bindings slightly, while wondering if he had finally been shut away in a bunker like Beckman had always threatened. _Not really what I had expected,_ Chuck thought to himself as he gave up trying to get free. His headache getting worse by the minute and the blinding light from the ceiling simply was not helping.

A whooshing sound from behind Chuck made him instinctively crane his neck to try and see what was happening but to no avail. He heard footsteps, lots of footsteps, as a group of men walked into his line of sight. All but two were wearing long white coats, marking them as scientists or doctors of some sort. One of the group, an aging man wearing glasses stood passively at the back of the group, not engaging in the chatter of the rest while the last a portly older man wearing a Hawaiian shirt had his back to Chuck.

"Hey guys?" called Chuck. "This is really uncomfortable and I could use an aspirin, my head's killing me."

The chatter died down immediately as the portly man turned around to face him. Chuck couldn't help the gasp that escaped him, he would know that face anywhere.

"Oh my god, Ted Roark!" Chuck gushed. "I'm a huge fan!"

"Oh please, call me Teddy," Roark said, his lips parting in a smile. "I must say, I'm a huge fan as well, Agent Carmichael... Or should I call you Bartowski."

Chuck's eyes widened at the implications of what Roark was saying. There were only one scenario that he could think of which involved Roark having access to such classified information.

"**You** work for the CIA?" Chuck asked incredulously, eyes wide in surprise.

"Not exactly, Charles, but where are my manners," Roark's smile turning into a smirk, sending a chill down Chuck's spine. Roark swept his hand around the large room. "Welcome to Fulcrum's headquarters. I'd give you a tour but it looks like you're a bit tied up."

_Fulcrum... No, that can't be right, Casey and Forrest were protecting me..._

"I can literally see your brain steaming ahead, trying to understand everything but do not worry Charles, I'm not a monser..." Roark trailed off before bursting into an uproarious laugh. "Okay, I'm a little bit of a monster but today's your lucky day. Get this man some aspirin."

Chuck squinted at Roark, wondering just who he was talking to since none of the men he was with seemed to follow his command, when he heard the whooshing sound again. _Must be a door behind me, _he thought as more footsteps followed before a familiar figure entered his sight.

"Forrest?" Chuck squeaked out, not expecting to see the robotic agent, especially not walking around in Fulcrum's headquarters carrying... Aspirin?

Forrest didn't answer Chuck, simply walking up to him, grabbing onto his hair and jerking his head back. As Chuck opened his mouth in a yelp of surprise and pain, Forrest dumped the couple of pills she held in her hand into his mouth then forcibly shut it by pushing up his jaw.

Once she was satisfied that Chuck had ingested whatever those pills were, Forrest moved over, out of his sight but still within the room. Chuck strained his neck, trying to catch a glimpse of anyone else who might be standing behind him but to no avail.

"You're wondering about Major Casey, I suppose." Roark asks, his nice-guy persona once again slipping into place. "Well, let's just say he won't be 'standing around' anymore."

Anxiety, shock and disbelief flooded Chuck's mind. _He isn't..._ Chuck couldn't bring himself to finish the thought. The last month with Forrest around had been hell but Chuck still held Casey in pretty high regard. Casey had, after all, saved his life on a weekly basis and before that disastrous 49B that had ruined everything, Chuck could honestly swear that he thought he was finally getting to the man.

Seeing the look on Chuck's face, Roark continued on with his verbal torment. "Oh, no, no Charlie, is it alright if I call you Charlie? No matter, now where was I... Oh, right, the Major. You see Charlie, our good friend Forrest," Roark motioned vaguely in a direction. "Put a bullet in his back. The latest info coming out of Fort Meade is he was mostly paralyzed from the waist down. Such a shame really."

Roark's comments sent Chuck reeling. Casey, paralyzed. Forrest, working for Fulcrum... _How could I not have known? Why didn't I flash? What's happened to Ellie? Sarah?_

"Oh, and if you're wondering how the super computer lodged inside that noggin of yours didn't identify Agent Forrest," Roark said, walking over and poking a pudgy finger at Chuck's forehead. "I wouldn't worry too much about it. You see, Forrest here is a recent addition to Fulcrum, only a couple of months in to her tenure and I dare say she's gotten herself a promotion! Jim, make a note."

The assembled group of doctors and scientists began looking at each other, confused. Roark frowned at them for a moment, before his face cleared, as if having suddenly solved the latest clue in a crossword puzzle. "Wrong office, well, I'm sure someone will remind me. Gentleman," Roark booms suddenly. "Onwards!"

Pointing one hand to where Chuck assumes is the door, the group begins moving out of the room. The single man who was not dressed in a white lab coat lingers behind, touching Chuck's shoulder briefly and leaned down to speak quietly into his ear.

"I cannot wait to have my time with you, Carmichael," he says, an accent tinging his every word. _European?_ Chuck thinks briefly before the man straightens back up, pats Chuck's shoulder once more and continues on.

Once he is left alone again, his mind begins to whir in a hundred different directions a second as his new reality settles in. _If they know about me, they know about Ellie! Sarah is still out there, she'll save me! But she doesn't know I'm here... Maybe Casey will tell her... The CIA will come find me, they'll __protect Ellie... THEY COULDN'T EVEN PROTECT ME._

* * *

><p><strong>The Present – CIA Substation, code-name designation: Castle<strong>

"Report."

"Yes General. As you are aware, Agent Walker was able to elude surveillance for several hours while in the Buy More plaza yesterday," Agent Hawkins began.

"I am well aware of the CIA's inability to maintain surveillance on a single agent." the NSA director sneered.

"Be that as it may, General," Agent Hawkins replied, bristling at the comment, he couldn't help but add on his own jab at the NSA. "It was your agency that was supposed to pick out moles within our midsts. But that isn't the point here."

"And what, do tell, is the point Agent." Beckman growled out angrily, unable to refute Hawkin's accusation.

"When Agent Walker reappeared and entered the Buy More, we lost her again on camera surveillance but tracked her leaving the Buy More through the loading dock. We combed the employee area and found a note that Agent Walker had left in Morgran Grimes' locker."

"And what did this note say?"

"The note, which our analysts have deduced matches Agent Walker's handwriting to a ninety-nine percent probability in which a meeting with Agent Walker and Eleanor Bartowski has been planned at a local pizza parlor. The note is fairly succinct with instructions on when to arrive and how to dress. Oh, and that they will be ordering the supreme with extra pineapples."

"Mmmm," Beckman groused. "What about the fiance of Eleanor Bartowski? Was he not mentioned?"

"We have concluded that since Agent Walker's recent arrival in Los Angeles, she has made no attempt to contact a Dr. Devon Woodcomb. Also, our analysts have concluded through vigorous readings of Agent Walker and Major Casey's reports that interactions with Devon Woodcomb were kept to a minimum and that they did not believe he posed a sufficient risk to the Intersect Project.

"Based on our own crypto-analytical algorithm system, we concur with Agent Walker and Major Casey's assessment."

"Very well then, I am seconding two teams of NSA cleaners for the purpose of intercepting and detaining Agent Walker, Ellie Bartowski and Morgan Grimes. They will be at your disposal and will follow your instructions to the T."

"Yes ma'am. We will mobilize and attempt to infiltrate the pizza staff discreetly as well as have the location under surveillance should Agent Walker decide to pull something early. We will be on site for the remainder of the day so please send the teams to the location that is being forwarded to you now."

A single beep from the monitor indicated that the intel they had gathered had finished transmitting to Beckman's end. "Very well, Agent Hawkins, I expect a full report upon the completion of the mission."

"Yes ma'am." Hawkins had barely finished his sentence before the screen before him beeped and went blank.

Turning away from the screen, he mumbled underneath his breath. "Damn NSA."

* * *

><p><strong>Westside Medical Center<strong>

The moment Devon heard her voice, he stopped struggling though he did twist his head around to stare at her accusingly.

"I'm going to let you up now but you need to stay down and out of sight, we need to talk and it's _extremely_ important that you listen."

"What the hell Sarah," Devon exclaimed loudly once Sarah removed her hand, causing Sarah to clap it right over his mouth again.

"Quiet, I can't be seen here right now." Sarah hissed before removing her hand again.

"What the hell!" Devon says again, though his voice is now much softer.

"Look, it can't be comfortable being pressed against the ground like this so I'm going to let you up but you _must_ keep low or someone might see you."

Sarah quickly released Devon's hands from behind his back before hoisting him off the ground as best as she can, crouched the way she is. It takes a chaotic minute of tangled limbs but Devon eventually found himself crouched alongside Sarah, hidden from view by a couple of cars.

"Devon, I need you to listen to me carefully, okay?" Sarah asks quickly, sweeping her eyes across the parking garage just to make sure she didn't miss anything.

"Alright but I need some answers as well."

"Fair enough. First, what do you know about what happened to Chuck."

"What happened to... Isn't Chuck with you?"

"No, he isn't, why would you think that?"

"Because that's what his note said."

"Note? Devon, we need to speed this along, I be asking you questions every couple of seconds trying to get the full picture."

"Sorry, I'm just really freaking about all this cloak and dagger thing. It's like we're in a spy movie or something."

"Just... just tell me what happened to Chuck."

"Well Ellie and I came home after a long shift and found a note on the dining table that Chuck left," Devon frowned, a though occurring to him. "Or we thought he left. Anyway, it said he was wrong about dumping you and that he was following you to Europe so he could make amends. Ellie thought it was so romantic. That's it. Now spill, what the hell is happening here?

_That explains why Ellie asked me about Chuck. _Sarah thought. Taking a deep breath to steel herself, Sarah began her own explanations.

"Devon, I need you to listen to me very closely. I'm not who you think I am. I don't really work at the Orange Orange, let me finish." Sarah said when she saw that Devon was about to interrupt her. "I'm a covert agent of the Central Intelligence Agency, or was... I'm not sure, and Chuck was a high level intelligence asset that both Casey, yes John Casey, your neighbor, and I were supposed to protect."

"Then why did you leave?" Devon quickly asked.

Sarah rolled her eyes at the doctor's inability to let her finish her explanation.

"I left because the CIA dictated it. They felt that I was getting too emotionally attached to my asset."

"Emotionally attached?"

"Stop asking me questions, you're making me explain things out of order." Exhaling loudly, Sarah got her thoughts in order before continuing. "Okay. The basics are this; Chuck saw something that made him extremely valuable to the government so Casey and I were stationed in Burbank to watch over him. To be able to stay close to him, Chuck was ordered to pretend that I was his girlfriend. Everything else like our jobs at the Buy More and Orange Orange were all just covers so that we could watch over Chuck more closely."

"You say pretend to be his girlfriend? None of that was real?"

"It..." Sarah faltered. "It wasn't... but it is."

"And Chuck, he's a spy?"

"Well, not technical..."

"Awesome!" Devon breathes out, a grin splitting his face.

"What?"

"I **knew** Chuck wasn't some loser stuck at the Buy More!"

Sarah smiles understandingly, Chuck was so much more than the Buy More, he just hadn't realized it yet. Her thoughts are interrupted by a sudden question from Devon.

"Wait a minute. If you didn't leave Chuck, why did Casey leave? And what about that Alex woman? Was she just one of you guys? And where is Chuck?"

_And here comes the hard questions, _Sarah thought. "Casey was shot in the line of duty, he's been taken off active duty. Alex Forrest is... was a member of the CIA, I am so sorry about what she did to you, Chuck and I were firmly against it. And as for Chuck... he's been kidnapped."

"Woah, not cool. What do you mean kidnapped? Weren't there agents who were supposed to protect him?"

"Casey and Forrest were supposed to protect him," Sarah explains, her patience running dry as she quickly glances at her watch to see how long she had before the next phase of the plan. _Enough, for now_. "The only problem is we didn't realize Forrest was working for rogue faction in the CIA. This faction, Fulcrum, wants Chuck because whoever controls Chuck, controls the tide of the secret war being waged behind the scenes."

She could see that Devon was about to ask another question and while a part of her knew that she had to answer all these and more, this simply was not the time and place for a question and answer segment. Sarah also wanted Ellie to hear everything she had to see, she owed Ellie that much, at least.

"Devon," Sarah says sharply, cutting off whatever he was going to say. "I'll answer all your questions later but now, I need your help, I need you to be awesome. Can you be awesome?"

* * *

><p>Ellie was extremely excited to see Sarah again, in no small part because she really wanted some news about Chuck. Ever since she read the note he had left behind two months ago, Ellie had heard nothing from her brother and had grown increasingly worried and hysterical. When Sarah had called, it felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulder. She was still slightly curious about why it was Sarah calling her to talk about it but any news about her little brother was welcome.<p>

Devon had left the hospital after his scheduled surgery and she had eyed him with no small amount of envy after he had come by her station to say he was leaving. While Devon had seemed completely normal when leaving, by the time she got home from the hospital for what she hoped would be a nice, relaxing soak in the tub before heading out to meet Sarah, Devon looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack.

"Honey!" Ellie called sharply. "What's wrong?"

"Wrong? Nothings wrong. I just remembered, that is I realized that I was going to drop by the Buy More, and go to it to pick up something."

Ellie looked at Devon quizzically for a brief second before shrugging her shoulders and headed to their room for a change of clothing. "We'll leave a bit early and drop by the Buy More, it's on the way."

Devon just stared off into empty space as Sarah's instructions continued to echo in his mind. When he heard Ellie's ultimatum, he let out a huge breath. "Awesome."

* * *

><p>As Ellie walked into the Buy More, a pang of nostalgia hit her like a ton of bricks. She almost expected to see Chuck sitting at the Nerd Herd desk as he always did, as if nothing had ever changed. <em>But things have changed, <em>Ellie thought. Instead of Chuck sitting at the desk, it was the terrible duo, Jeff and Lester.

Ellie silently admonished herself; Chuck had left, chasing after Sarah two months ago and she hadn't heard from him at all. She was almost inclined to believe it was all a lie. Chuck never, ever made her worry like he had over the last two months.

Before Ellie could plunge deeper into the line of thinking, a short bearded man slid to a stop in front of Ellie and Devon, making the duo back up a bit at surprise.

"Ellie, Devon, what a pleasure. I haven't seen the you in awhile. Have you heard from Sarah? She invited me to pizza tonight, isn't that great? Maybe I'll be able to talk to Chuck too!" Morgan just about gushed in excitement.

Remembering Sarah's instructions, Devon pulled Morgan close to him, draping a shoulder over his shoulders and leaned down to whisper the one word she had said would make Morgan understand.

"_Pineapple_."

Morgan's eyes widened in surprise before he quickly pulled himself out from underneath Devon's arms and sprinted off down the center aisle, headed straight for Jeff and Lester.

"What did you say to him?" Ellie asked, one delicate eyebrow arched as she surveyed her future husband.

Just like he had with Morgan, Devon reached over and pulled Ellie to him, draping his arm across her shoulder.

"Don't panic, you have to trust me."

Before Ellie could reply, the blare of the fire alarm erupted throughout the store and the stomping of feet belong to the early evening crowd drew both their attention towards the literal horde that was headed straight for them. Devon quickly pushed himself onto the tips of his toes, trying to spot Morgan but given just how short he really was, it was a futile attempt.

The surging crowd enveloped Ellie and Devon and they were forcibly pushed from the store as the distant sound of sirens could be heard. Just as the two of them cleared the sliding entrance to the store, Morgan somehow magically appeared next to Ellie and asked if they were all right. Knowing that time was of the essence, Devon quickly grabbed hold of both Ellie and Morgan and scanned the parking lot. He found what he was looking for within a second. Parked near the entrance to the adjacent Large Mart was a mid-sized delivery truck that wasn't there when they had first arrived at the door.

Remembering Sarah's instructions, Devon guided the three of them over to the large expanse of wall between the Buy More and Large Mart and hurried towards the truck, hugging the wall as they moved. Morgan and Ellie protested his handling of them, shooting off question after question at Devon but he ignored them.

It was the longest two minutes of his life, Devon felt, before he finally reached the truck. The back was conveniently open and he literally threw Morgan into the cargo area before climbing in, still firmly holding on to Ellie. Once he was sure everyone and their limbs were inside, Devon held out his hand towards Ellie and Morgan.

"Give me both your phones!"

"What, Devon, **what is going on**?"

"Look, I'm just follow instructions and those instructions told me to make sure I got the both of you into this truck and dropped your phones off before shutting us in."

"Instructions? Whose instructions are these?"

"Dude, this is **so** not cool. Are you trying to kidnap us or something? And who told you about _Pineapple_? Only Chuck would make that kind of call"

Taking a deep, calming breath, Devon wondered if this was how Sarah had felt earlier.

"Sarah told me to do this. She also told me that she will explain everything to you herself."

"What? Sarah?"

"Just give me your phones! And keep quiet!" he said harshly, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

Shocked at his tone of voice, both quieted down immediately. Looking quickly at his watch, Devon realized he was almost out of time. Sarah had been extremely clear about the fact that they only had five minutes from the moment the alarm went off till the time the police and fire department arrived on scene, which could prove disastrous.

Looking at his watch, Devon realized he had about a minute to get everything going according to plan. Neither of them made to retrieve their phones, so Devon reached over into Ellie's purse and fished out her phone to her cry of protest. He then grabbed Morgan by his collar and gingerly reached two fingers into Morgan's pocket, in search of the bearded troll's phone.

Once he had both phones in hand, he quickly proceeded to pull out both batteries and dumped it all out the back before closing the door and locking it in place from the inside. In the confusion that was spreading in the Buy More plaza, no one even noticed the three of them in the truck or the brief argument that had followed before the door was slammed shut.

Even though it was pitch black inside the container now, Devon could swear that he felt both Ellie and Morgan staring at him and he gulped nervously, wishing that the truck would just move. While he was certain that he could handle Morgan, Ellie was a much more formidably opponent and he doubted anything could quell her incoming anger except for Sarah's explanation.

Almost as if someone was answering his prayer, the three hidden occupants felt before they heard the engine start up. A few seconds later and the truck lurched forward, pulling away from Large Mart, the Buy More and, most importantly, the CIA agents who had been scrambling all over Castle, looking for an explanation as to why the fire alarm above their secret base had suddenly gone off.

* * *

><p>The extremely tense silence in the darkness continued for about an hour before the truck began slowing down. A couple of minutes after the engine died down, the door was wrenched open and the early evening light caused all the occupants to shield their eyes. Once their eyes had sufficiently re acclimated to light, the trio looked out in surprise to see a tall, thin man with a scruffy beard covering his face and a Large Mart baseball capped pulled low, obscuring his eyes. Devon was particularly surprised because Sarah had told him, herself, that <strong>she<strong> would be the one getting them away from the Buy More.

The man motioned for them to exit the vehicle and they found themselves at the top of what looked like a multi-story parking structure. They followed wordlessly behind the man as they made their way over to a late model SUV where, as indicated by their mysterious guide, they quickly squeezed into the backseat. It wasn't long before they were once again off on the road, Ellie, Morgan and even Devon wondering exactly what was happening.

When the man finally spoke, as they merged onto the I-5 headed towards Sacramento, they were all extremely shocked to hear the voice of Sarah Walker.

"I'm sorry for all the cloak and dagger," Sarah said, oblivious to the hanging jaws of shock in the backseat. "But I needed to get all of you aware from Burbank and to somewhere safe, as soon as I could."

When only silence met her statement, Sarah glanced into the rear view mirror, trying to see what was happening. She almost chuckled when she saw the bewildered faces of her passengers.

"Just sit back and relax, for now. I'll explain everything once we reach a safe location."

* * *

><p>It had been an extremely trying thirty-six hours for Sarah Walker. Most importantly, she had barely slept over the last forty-eight hours, determining that it was imperative that she not stop till they were all safe. This meant that other than quick stops at isolated gas stations that hadn't been renovated since the 1950s, she relentlessly drove on.<p>

The next thing that had plagued her, though briefly, had been Ellie. Devon had remained mostly quiet during the first few hours where Ellie had commanded Sarah to explain exactly what was going on. Sarah had maintained that it wasn't safe to talk until she had reached the safe house and after awhile, the two women had come to some sort of unspoken truce.

The most trying part of the journey, lay firmly on the diminutive shoulders of Morgan Grimes. While Ellie and Sarah had called a truce, Morgan simply would not stop badgering the other people he shared the SUV with. He seemed to be the proverbial child asking a continuous stream of questions, most annoyingly "Are we there yet?"

It was with a great amount of relief that Sarah finally pulled into the driveway of the safe house. Located about fifteen miles outside of Seattle, she was convinced that it would be safe enough for her charges to hide out while she and Orion hunted down Fulcrum and saved Chuck. What would happen after that was a matter she would bring up with Orion soon.

As she got out of the driver's seat, Sarah pulled off the cap she was wearing, refusing to remove it just in case her likeness was caught on any camera while on the way to the safe house. After shaking out her hair which she had pulled into a pile under the cap, she pulled off the scratchy beard and the prosthetic nose that she had used to alter the shape of her face. By the time Ellie, Devon and Morgan had gotten out the car, the man with the beard was gone and in his place stood Sarah Walker, exhausted with dark smudges under her eyes but unmistakably the woman who had spent almost the last two years with Chuck.

Seeing that Ellie had decided their truce was over, Sarah ushered the group into the house before the barrage of questions could begin. As they began piling into the living room, a woman came into the room, followed closely behind by a man who bore a striking resemblance to someone Sarah knew all too well. _It can't be... _Sarah dismissed the notion.

"Mom, Orion, I'd like you to meet Ellie Ba..." her sentence was cutoff when Ellie suddenly crumpled to the floor. Looking at her in alarm, Sarah knelt beside her, trying to figure out what was wrong. What Ellie said next caused Sarah to whip her head back to facing the man she knew as Orion.

"Dad?"

_To be continued..._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Happy Easter to those celebrating it, happy Sunday to those who don't. It took me awhile to get this chapter to read like how I wanted it to though, as always, I've been staring at this for so long that I've got no idea what is what anymore

Please let me know if you see any glaring errors and mistakes or if you just like it.

Cheers.


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